Rick Warren - Radical Freedom—Part One

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, this is Rick Warren. Did you know that the
best gift you can give anybody is to bring them
into a relationship with Jesus Christ? And did you know
that the best time to do that is a Christmas
Here's what I want to challenge you to do. I
want you to make a Christmas list of people. Think
of all the people who you know who don't know
Jesus or who might know Jesus but don't go to
church anywhere. And I want you to start praying for them.

(00:23):
And then I want you to invite those people you've
prayed for to come to a Christmas Eve or Christmas
Day service at your church.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is
the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. Hey, We're so
glad you've joined us. Today. We're continuing a powerful series
called Radicalis Developing Spiritual Roots. And in this series, Rick
will show you how to grow deep in your faith,
stay grounded in God's word, and become everything He created

(00:56):
you to be. Now here's part one of a message
called Radical Freedom.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Now, if I were to ask you, what is America's
first freedom? It's commonly referred to as the first freedom,
and yet many people couldn't name the first freedom of America.
It is in the First Amendment, and it is the
first mentioned in the First Amendment. The first freedom of
America is freedom to worship. Freedom to worship. All the

(01:27):
others come second, third, fourth, and fifth. It's number one
in the Constitution. In fact, in the Bill of Rights,
the First Amendment says this here on the screen, Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Now, notice the first phrase

(01:52):
of the First Amendment has two things about worship. First,
it says, government cannot tell us how to worship. Government
cannot establish a religion and say everybody, you all have
to worship that way. It prevents the government from telling
us how we're to worship. They may not establish an
official religion and force us all to worship that way. Second,

(02:16):
it says, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, government cannot
tell us when, where, or how we are to worship. Now,
after that, it says, yeah, you could collap for that.
That's a good thing, and that's what makes America unique. Now,

(02:37):
after that, it gives four others. These are called the
five great freedoms of America. First is freedom of worship.
Then it says or of the press, or the rights
of the people to peaceably assembly and to petition the
government for a redress of grievances, of bridging the freedom
of speech or the press, or these other things. In
other words, there are five great freedoms in America. The

(03:00):
first freedom is the freedom to worship any way we
want to to honor God, when, how where we want
to worship. And then come freedom of speech, freedom of
the press, freedom to assemble, and freedom to petition the
government if we think they're doing something wrong. Now, why
is the freedom of worship the first freedom of America

(03:23):
Because America's first immigrants came here for that reason. The
Pilgrims who came in sixteen twenty, our founding fathers came
in sixteen twenty were evangelicals. They're what you and I
believe about Jesus and about the Bible. They were evangelical Pilgrims,
and they left England because of religious persecution because England

(03:47):
had an official religion, a state church, It had a
Church of England. And they said, we want to have
the right to worship any way. We want to worship.
And so the first people who immigrated to America came
here not for political freedom, not for any other. They
came here for one in one purpose only, freedom to
worship God. And so our founding fathers came here to

(04:09):
set that up. And as a result, when the Constitution
was written, the very first freedom guaranteed is the freedom
to worship. Now, this weekend, I want to look at
something far, far deeper than political freedom or even the
freedom to worship. I want us to look at what
it means to be spiritually free, because most people aren't

(04:32):
spiritually free. They're all bound up inside. They've got stress,
they've got worry, they've got fatigue, boredom, bitterness, guilt, resentment, regrets, fears, anxieties,
and all these kind of things that bind us up.
They're not living lives of freedom. They're in a free country,

(04:53):
but they're not personally free. So I want us to
look at spiritual freedom this weekend. Jesus said it like
this in John chapter eight. He said, if the sun
sets you free, you will be free. Indeed, that's what
Jesus said. If the son, who's the son Jesus Christ,

(05:14):
he's talking about himself. He says, if I set you free,
you're gonna be free. Indeed, what does free indeed mean?
It means really really really really really free. And yet
most people I know, even Christian believers who follow Christ,
aren't really free. So what I want us to do
this week it is two things. What does it mean

(05:36):
to be set free by Jesus? What is radical freedom?
Where you live a free, open life? Jesus Christ did
not come to make your religious. He came to make
you free. What does that mean? And then we're going
to look at how do I get it? Now? What

(05:57):
is radical freedom? If you'll take out your message notes?
Jesus said in John eight, if the sun sets you free,
you will be free. Indeed, you're going to be really
really free. Today, I don't want to talk about the
five freedoms of the First of Men, and I want
to talk about the five freedoms that Jesus gives you
because he is your savior. What really happens to you

(06:20):
when you come to know him? And what is available
to you? Because many of you you've put your faith
in Christ, but you don't realize what He's given you,
and you haven't claimed that free gift What is radical freedom?
Five things? Number one, It is a clear conscience. That's
the first freedom of the Christian life. A clear conscience.

(06:41):
It means all my guilt is wiped out, All my
sins are forgiven. All the things I've ever done wrong
are not only forgiven, they are forgotten. The Bible says,
God puts them in the deepest part of the sea
and then puts up in no fish and sign They're
not just out of sight, they're out of mind. God
wipes the slate cleanness like a sketch. You mess it
all up, and you shake it upside down, and you

(07:03):
can't see anything anymore. God takes a giant eraser and
wipes out everything you've ever done wrong or ever will
do wrong. Now that's good news. Why is that freedom?
Because doctors tell us that guilt and resentment, in other words,
guilt because of the things I've done to you and
resentment over the things you've done to me are the

(07:24):
two most destructive emotions in your life, and they burden
you down. You cannot be guilty and happy at the
same time. It is impossible. Friends, even if there were
no such thing as heaven, and of course there is,
But even if there weren't, it would be a good
thing to give your life to Christ and trusting for forgiveness,

(07:45):
just to get a clear conscience, to be able to
wake up and go, Man, I don't have to worry
about that anymore. It's all over, it's done, it's paid for.
It doesn't mean I'm perfect, you're not and I'm not.
It means I'm forgiven and I have a clear conscience.
I saw a sign on a gas station one time,
and it said a clean engine gives more power. That's

(08:07):
true with a conscience too. The reason so many people
are tired and fatigued all the time is because they're
carrying a garbage bag of guilt over their shoulder through life.
And God said, a long time ago, let it go.
This is the first freedom. The Bible says in Colossians
one fourteen. God has purchased our freedom with his blood

(08:32):
and has forgiven most of our sins. Doesn't say that,
does it. It says all, circle all. He's forgiven all
our sins. Now. I looked up this word in a
Greek lexicon, and the Greek word for all means all

(08:53):
what is not included in that nothing, It's all included
everything you've ever done wrong or ever will do wrong,
is forgiven. That's freedom. That's radical freedom. Radical freedom means
a clear conscience. Now it says God has purchased our freedom.
You know, we know this, but so often we don't

(09:14):
act like it. We take it for granted. How did
Jesus purchase our freedom? Well, he paid for it with
his life. Let me show you some verses. Look up
here on the screen. The Bible says in Ephesians one,
by the death of Christ, we are set free. There's
that phrase again. Jesus came not to make you religious,
but to set you free. We are set free. That is,

(09:37):
in other words, our sins are forgiven. Jesus paid for
all your sins, so you don't have to pay for him.
He was hung up for your hang ups. Look at
this verse. The Bible says no Psalm thirty four, the
Lord redeems his servants. No one will be condemned who
takes refuge in him. It says, the Lord redeems. You

(10:02):
know what the word redeem means. It means to pay
for somebody's freedom. And that's what Jesus Christ did for you.
He paid for your freedom from guilt. He paid for
your freedom from regret. He paid for your freedom from shame,
so you can stop beating yourself up again over and over.
Let me show you another verse. The Bible says in

(10:22):
First Corinthians one to eight. God will keep you free.
There's that word, keep you free. Not just make you free,
but keep you free from all blame on that great
day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. Now, let me
tell you something. A lot of you have a picture
in your mind, and it's an inner, erroneous picture that

(10:44):
when you get to heaven, there's going to be this
imax theater that shows your life to everybody and is
going to reveal every secret evil, could mean, bad, nasty
thing you've ever done, the stuff we don't know about yet,
to be incredibly embarrassed, and you're gonna see feel all
the blame for all the things you've done wrong, thought wrong,

(11:06):
said wrong. But the Bible says there he will keep
you from that blame. That ain't gonna happen. If you
put your trust in Christ, he will keep you from
all blame on that day. He's what's in. It was
wiped out a long time ago. Jesus Christ paid for
it on the cross. Now here's the question, why do

(11:27):
you keep blaming yourself for stuff God's already forgiven? Huh?
Tell me the logic of that one. Why do you
keep beating yourself up over and over for stuff that
God has already forgiven? Do you realize what that is?
When you hold on to your guilt? That is an
insult to Jesus Christ. You are insulting Jesus. You're saying,

(11:51):
Jesus what you did on the cross, and we looked
at that for seven weeks last spring when you died
on the cross, when I said it was enough, I
need to punish myself too. You are insulting Jesus by
holding onto guilt. Should a believer in Christ ever feel guilty? Yeah,

(12:11):
for about a nanosecond. In other words, I say something
evil or wrong to Kay and the moment God's spirit
says that was dumb. I need to confess it and
then not feel guilty about it. God Is will for
your life is not that you carry a load of guilt.
He wants you to be free. Radical freedom is a

(12:33):
clear conscience. Is that good news? Oh? Yeah, that's good news.
Doesn't mean you're perfect, it does mean you're forgiven. Number two.
Radical freedom means personal access to God. This is a
big one, personal access to God. It's the second of

(12:53):
the five Great freedoms God gives us. When Jesus says,
I'll set you free if you'll trust me, I get
personal access to God. You know, some of you know
that sometimes it's kind of hard to get to me
because a lot of people want to meet with me
or call me. But my secretary knows that if my

(13:14):
kids call, they have direct access. My kids don't have
to call up. Our grandkids for that matter, don't have
to call up and say I'd like an appointment with
Pastor Rick, I'd like to have a phone appointment with
my dad. They don't have to do that. They know
that anytime any place, I'm happy to see them. They

(13:35):
can walk into any meeting because they are my kids
and I love them, and so they have direct access.
That's the kind of access you get when you get
into the family of God. A few times in life,
I've had the fun experience of going to like a
major rock concert and they'll give me a badge that

(13:58):
says all access. Yes, those things are worth a lot
of money. I could sell an all access badge to
a rock concert for thousands of dollars. When you get
an all access badge to a concert or something like that,
I mean as you can walk around anywhere, nobody's gonna
stop you. You can hobnob with the Hoi poloi and

(14:19):
you know, and you know, just hang out wherever you
want to do it. When you become a believer, you
put your faith in Jesus Christ. God gives you an
all access pass to Him. You don't have to get
an invitation, you don't have to get an introduction, you

(14:40):
don't have to have a big idea on your mind.
You got all access to God twenty four hours a day. Anytime.
You got an all access badge because now you're a
child of God. Now, let's say you had access to
the President of the United States or the Pope or
some famous person, and you knew at at any time

(15:01):
of the day you could walk into the Oval office
and talk to the President, or you could talk to
somebody about whatever's on your mind. That'd be a big deal.
But this is an even bigger deal. When you accept
Christ into your life, God gives you all access to Heaven.
You get direct personal access to the creator of the universe.

(15:27):
Nothing's bigger than that. And as I said, you don't
need an introduction. You don't have to pray through Mary,
you don't have to pray through saints. You don't need
a priest or pastor to kind of give you an introduction.
Sometimes people will say, Rick, pray for me, like my
prayers are better than yours. They're not. They're not. You

(15:49):
have the same direct access that I do because you're
a child of God. You don't need an introduction, you
don't need an invitation. You can talk to Him anytime,
and you can talk to him for any reason. Look
at these verses. The Bible says, in Christ and through
faith in Him, we may approach God with freedom. There's

(16:13):
the second freedom, with freedom and confidence. Now circle through
faith in Him. Because what I'm telling you right now
is this all access to God. God just doesn't give
that to anybody. The whole world doesn't have direct access
to God. That's a myth. They don't. God gives direct access,

(16:33):
personal access to himself through his son Jesus Christ. Only
those who put their faith in his son, who've trusted
in him, have that direct access. God just doesn't give
out all direct access passes to everybody. Now, the Bible
says this, look here on the screen Hebrews four sixteen.
Let us then feel free. That's the second freedom. Let

(16:57):
us feel free to come before God's thrown. How do
you do that? How do you come before God's thrown?
You pray? You don't have to say any of these
and now, so you don't have to have any fancy words.
You don't have to have any certain ritual. You just
come to Goddess as a father, our father, who are
in heaven, Daddy Abbah. You just come as a child,

(17:18):
our father. Let us feel free to come before God's throne.
Here there is grace, and we can receive mercy and
grace to help us when we need it. Is that
good news? Oh yeah, that's good news. So why am
I free? Because first, everything I've done wrong in the

(17:40):
past is forgiven and forgotten. And second, no matter what
I face today, I can talk to God about it instantly. Lord,
I'm going into Costco right now and I need some help.
I'm tempted to buy everything. You know, you can talk
to God anytime anywhere. You can talk them to stop light.

(18:01):
You don't have to close your eyes. You have personal
access to God. Now here's my question about this one.
Why don't you take advantage of this more often? If
you could talk to anybody in the world anytime of
the day. Well, let's say, you know, you needed help
on something and God says I'm here anytime that. Why

(18:23):
don't you take advantage of that more often? Why don't
you talk to him more often? Jesus said, you have
not because you ask not. Every prayer doesn't have to
end in Jesus's name. Amen, You can keep a running
prayer going throughout the day. You just keep talking to
God all the time. And you know, and you know,
sometimes you're talking with a friend and then you don't

(18:44):
see him for a day, and when you pick up
the conversation, you just pick up where you left off.
You can do that with God all the time. Clear conscience,
personal access to God. Number three, Radical freedom. What Jesus
wants you to be free from is the power to
do what's right. Radical freedom is the power to do

(19:08):
what's right. Now. I need to explain this because most
people have a limited, actually a quite immature view or
definition of freedom. Most people think freedom means no rules,
that's freedom. You know, I've always laughed at kids. Who
who said, you know, I can't wait till I graduate

(19:30):
because then I'm going to be free from my parents
and all their authority. Well that's just fantastic. Okay. Now
what are you going to do after you graduate? Oh?
I'm joining the army? Hello, little hammer, big hammer. Okay, okay.

(19:54):
You will always have authority over you in your life.
Get used to it. It may be a boss, it
may be the government, it may be, but you're gonna
have to serve somebody at some point. Nobody has unlimited life.
There are limitations in every area of life. But a
lot of people think freedom means no borders, no boundaries,

(20:16):
no rules, no regulations, no restrictions, no limits. Now let
me explain this to you very clearly. Freedom is not
the absence of limits. Freedom is the power God graciously
gives you to say yes and no, to say yes

(20:36):
to the right things and to say no to the
things that mess up your life. Freedom is more than
the restriction limitations taken off. Freedom is the power to
do the right thing, the power to do what's good,
the power to stop doing self destructive things that you'd
like to stop but you can't. You see, freedom is

(20:58):
far more positive and far more powerful than simply no limits,
no rules, no regulations. Want you to write this down
on your outline. Freedom is the power to say both
yes and no. Wow.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
Thank you Rick for that amazing message. And you know
people are being transformed by these messages every day, but
that's only because of your partnership with us. In fact,
here's Rick to share some important news with you.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
Let's be honest about this time of year. At the
end of every year, there are so many ministries that
ask for you to support them in the end of
your giving. And you know what, we believe in every
ministry that proclaims the name of Jesus, and we thank
God for them. And I know it can be difficult
to decide who to give to, So let me just

(21:53):
give you some biblical foundations for giving, some simple guidelines
for end of your giving. You might think of these
three or four things. Number one, give to the ministry
that God tells you to support. Go to God, pray
to him, ask him, say God, who do you want
me to support? And you know what, I support you
giving to whoever God tells you to give to. And

(22:15):
if it's not daily, hope, I still support you to
give to who God tells you to give to, So
pray and ask God. Second, never give when you feel pressured.
The Bible says in Corinthians that we are to never
give under pressure or compulsion or under guilt. So if
you ever feel guilty about giving, don't give because God
tells you in the Word not to give at that time.

(22:37):
Give because you want to give, not out of guilt
or pressure. Number three, give to where you support and
believe in the goals of that particular ministry. Now every
ministry has different goals. But if you believe in and
have a heart for going to the last, the least,
and the loss, this would be a ministry you should

(22:58):
consider supporting and then finally give where your gift will
be multiplied. For instance, at the end of every year,
there is a donor to Daily Hope who offers to
give a matching grant to apply to any donation that
we receive before the end of the year. Now what
this means is that for every dollar you're able to

(23:19):
give this month the Daily Hope, it's going to be
doubled that donor will match it. That multiplies your gift.
Like the little boy who brought his loaves and fishes
to Jesus and Jesus faed the five thousand. If you
give twenty five dollars to Daily Hope this month, the
matching grant will match it at twenty five dollars. If
you're able to give one hundred dollars, the matching grant

(23:41):
will add another one hundred dollars that multiplies your gift.
I would consider that as a factor in where to
give during this month. Now, let me just say this.
If you can't help us financially, that's okay, I understand,
but I would ask that you pray for us. I'm
so great thankful for those of you who are a

(24:01):
financial supporter of this ministry. That monthly giving, month after month.
It means so much to me, it means much to God,
but it means so much for eternity to those who
are hearing the good news for the very first time.
And so you and I are partners together in reaching
people for Christ all around the world. In closing, let

(24:22):
me just ask you to continue to pray pray for
me as I pray for you, and pray that God's
word will be taught clearly with compassion, with clarity, with
simplicity in this New Year, and that it will not
only help you as you listen to these broadcasts, but
it will help us reach people for Christ and disciple

(24:42):
believers and build churches all around the world, especially in
the tribes that have never heard the name of Christ.
Thanks for your generosity, thanks for your prayers, and God
bless you.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
All this month. Every dollar you give to help Daily
Hopes share the transforming love of Jesus with people around
the world will be matched up to one hundred thousand dollars.
You can give right now by going to Pastorrick dot com,
or you can just text the word hope to seven
oh three oh nine. Again, that's Pastorick dot com. Or

(25:16):
just text the word hope to seven oh three oh
nine and thank you so much for your support. Be
sure to join us next time as we look into
God's Word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored
by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.